FL among the most corrupt states: study

Federal prosecutors convict an average of 49 Florida public officials per year, making it the fourth most corrupt state, according to a University of Illinois at Chicago study.

Florida ranks number eight in corruption convictions per capita, mainly stemming from crimes like bribery, extortion, conspiracy or tax fraud, the study shows. The data was obtained from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The study's biggest weakness, said co-author James Nowlan, is that more aggressive district courts might yield more convictions regardless of crime levels. Researchers tried to account for that by including data from over 35 years.

"Certain jurisdictions seemed likely to have been more corrupt than others," he said. "We thought we'd take as systematic a look at this as we could."